Christmases And Wwii Years In Skelmanthorpe

A Memory of Skelmanthorpe.

I was born in Leeds Yorkshire, but my maternal grandmother and other relatives lived in Skelmanthorpe. My earliest memories are of being the first grandchild and visiting grandma every Christmas to celebrate. Then in 1940 I was evacuated briefly to Skelmanthorpe to live with my grandmother and attend school there. When I knew her she always had a home on Station Road shared by her eldest son. My most vivid memories are of the coal miners walking to their jobs - their heavy boots clomping down Station Road early in the morning. If I remember correctly there was a mine at the bottom of the hill. These men had got off the bus at Commercial Street and Station Road and walked the rest of the way. My grandmother had three sons and one daughter (my mother), all of whom worked down 'the pit'. What a life in those days! Just washing the 'pit clothes' with the facilities people had in those days was a feit in itself! Unfortunately I was in Canada by the time my relatives in Skelmanthorpe passed away - I am now 82 years old so I doubt if any of them still exist. I have so many memories of those days I could go on forever ......

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